Real Madrid will be playing their second second-leg match in the Round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain tomorrow. In preparation for the match, Zidane held a practice and spoke to the press. Here’s a look at what the manager had to say.
After a brief training session with the team at the Parc de Prince, Zizou alongside Capitan Sergio Ramos answered a few qeustions. Real Madrid will kickoff against the Parisians tomorrow as they play the second-led of their Roud of 16 affair.
For now, the odds are in favour of Real Madrid to win as they start off tomorrows game with a 3-1 advantage, on aggragete of course. PSG though will be chasing with waves of attack as they look to catch up. With the absence of Neymar the attacking dynamic will be different and something Zidane will need to adjust to in his tactical approach.
With every factory taken into consideration by Zidane and his club they are now as prerpared as they can be. Here is a look at what he had to say.
All qoutes are taken from the Official Real Madrid page.
Opening Statement
"“We’ve come here to play our game. We’re all ready and that’s why the whole squad is here. We’ve now got our final training session, we’re focused and ready for the game”.“Things will be difficult for one of the two teams at the final whilst tomorrow night but that’s the way it goes in football. What I want to see and what we have to do is put in a good performance. We know that we’ll have to dig in and that they’ll make life hard for us, but we’ll have to dig deep and play our game”."
The Atmosphere
"“We’re used to all of this. What we have to do is just focus on the game because it’s 11v11 and the referee, who’ll be doing his job. We just have to focus on playing our game. The atmosphere will be ferocious but it’s just another game”."
Returning to France – as the Manager
"“This is Paris and I’m from Marseille (laughter). It’s always a pleasure to return to France. I don’t get over very often and it’s special to be here. However, we’ve come here to play a game of football with Real Madrid. The important thing is that we’re ready to put in a good perfomance against a great team that’ll be doing all they can to make things difficult for us. I hope that it’ll be a great spectacle”."
Keeping a tight defensive line
"“You can’t control that. If you take the lead it doesn’t mean anything. You’ve got to be ready for the unexpected, both if we score and if we end up conceding. We’ll have to perform for the full 90 minutes”.“I’ve been here for a few years now with this group. It’s always a tricky task to pick a starting XI from this squad because they all want to play. However, part of my job is to pick the team that’ll play tomorrow. I’m not going to tell you anything about the team that I’m going to put out. We’re ready and I believe that all of them are capable of playing”."
The absence of Neymar Jr.
"“It doesn’t change anything whilst at the same time it changes everything. He’s an exceptional player, but for us it doesn’t make any difference because another player will come in and he’ll be really up for it and will want to put in a great performance. In terms of motiviation it doesn’t alter a thing because we’ll still be up against very competitive opposition with some great players”."
Di Maria playing against his old side
"“He’s a tremendous player who has made history with Real Madrid. He’s capable of playing anywhere across the midfield. He’s quick, moves well and has a good shot on him. We’ll try and put a side out that’ll see us play our own game and prevent them from making life difficult for us”."
Next: PSG vs Real Madrid match preview
Key match for Madrid
"“It’s not a cup final. It’s the return leg of the Champions League round of 16 and we’re aware just how important it is. It’ll be a tough game, but we’ll be aiming to put in a great performance and we’re used to playing in these sorts of game. Tomorrow we’ll have to produce some good football”."